Now if you listen to the show you will know that we are not great fans of sports administrators as in the main they get things so horribly wrong and enrage their club members, players and fans alike. Often they make up rules or set up systems such as the Match Review panel that we have with the FFA, that in truth we could do without. If the referee was allowed to review the game and reverse decisions or interpret what he missed under the laws of the game, surely this would be far better than ex players who could well have an axe to grind by not being involved in the game any longer.
But we cannot back the senior Perth Glory official who could find himself in hot water this week. It has been for over ten years a FIFA ruling that replays are not to be shown on big screens at live games. The reasons being in Europe that there is a risk of crowd trouble and it could put undue pressure on the officials. Like it or not it is a sensible rule. If you have been to the cricket and heard the groans when an umpire has made a decision that on replay is wrong, you can understand why football does not allow it.
At the weekend whoever was controlling the feed from Fox showed the replay of Sterjovski when he had been given offside, and the replay showed he was not. It is believed that representatives from the FFA spoke to those concerned and reminded them that replays were not to be played, only to be overruled by a senior club official. This we feel was extremely foolish. It shows a lack of understanding in that it is not an FFA ruling but a FIFA one and is simply going to antagonise the FFA.
If they did that then they are bloody stupid! Just as they get it right on the pitch